This popular work provides an in-depth historical background to issues of contemporary concern, tracing developments over the past two and a half centuries. It promotes accessibility by adopting a thematic approach, with each theme treated chronologically. Major themes are chosen partly by their importance to an understanding of the past and partly by their relevance to students of contemporary Britain - rather than by imposing current fashions in historical study on the past. Thoroughly revised, the third edition of Modern Britainreviews and brings up to date the content to take account of developments since 1997 and reconsiders emphases and interpretations in light of more recent scholarship. It incorporates new currents in historical writing on matters such as the language of class, the position of women, and the revolution worked by the Internet and mobile technologies. Modern Britain is vital reading for students of history and the social and political sciences.

Edward Royle is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York, UK.

List of Maps and Tables	p. xiii
Maps	p. xiv
Preface	p. xviii
The Changing Environment	p. 1
The Countryside	p. 3
The age of enclosure and improvement, 1750-1830	p. 3
The Victorian countryside, 1830-1914	p. 5
The twentieth-century countryside	p. 7
Environmental concerns and countryside issues	p. 9
The changing nature of land ownership	p. 11
Transportation	p. 15
Turnpikes and canals, 1750-1830	p. 15
The railway age, 1830-1914	p. 17
Urban transport	p. 19
Passenger transport by road in the twentieth century	p. 21
Goods transport by road in the twentieth century	p. 23
Private road transport	p. 24
Rail transport in modern Britain	p. 25
Sea and air	p. 26
Urbanisation	p. 28
The growth of an urban society	p. 28
The urban environment, 1750-1830	p. 31
Urban development in the age of the railway	p. 34
The built environment	p. 36
The motor car and the modern city	p. 41
Industrialisation	p. 43
The first industrial revolution	p. 43
The workshop of the world	p. 45
Decay and renewal	p. 46
People	p. 49
The Population Question	p. 51
Counting the people before the census	p. 51
Population size and growth, 1750-1830	p. 52
Population trends, 1841-1911	p. 54
Population trends since 1911	p. 57
Population structure	p. 60
Households and Families	p. 64
Household size and composition	p. 64
Illegitimacy	p. 66
Marriage and divorce	p. 68
Migration	p. 71
Migration within Britain before 1830	p. 71
Migration, 1830-1914	p. 73
Migration in the twentieth century	p. 74
Emigration before the mid-nineteenth century	p. 76
Emigration from the mid-nineteenth century	p. 77
Migrants and their motives	p. 78
Immigration	p. 82
Irish immigrants	p. 83
Jewish immigrants	p. 86
Towards a multi-ethnic society	p. 89
Race, riots and social tensions	p. 94
Class	p. 99
Social and Occupational Structures	p. 101
The old order	p. 101
The language of class	p. 103
The census and social structure	p. 108
The structure of employment	p. 111
The Making of a Class Society	p. 117
The breakdown of the old order	p. 117
Class and social theory	p. 119
Economic change and the origins of class society	p. 122
The making of the working class	p. 123
The middle classes	p. 126
A viable class society, 1850-1900	p. 129
Class in the early twentieth century	p. 132
The Governing Class	p. 135
The aristocracy	p. 135
Urban government	p. 137
Church and State	p. 138
The survival of the elite, 1832-86	p. 138
Class and party, 1886-1951	p. 139
The Challenge of Radicalism	p. 141
The beginnings of radicalism, 1760-1800	p. 141
Radicalism and class conflict, 1800-50	p. 144
Consensus and compromise, 1850-1900	p. 148
The Organisation of Labour	p. 151
Trade societies in the eighteenth century	p. 151
Trade unions in the early nineteenth century	p. 152
Labour, radicalism and class in the mid-nineteenth century	p. 156
Acceptance and consolidation	p. 157
Labour representation	p. 163
Trade unions in the twentieth century	p. 166
Class in Modern Britain	p. 173
Towards a classless society?	p. 173
Class, party and the governing elite since 1951	p. 178
Class in the twenty-first century	p. 184
Poverty and Welfare	p. 187
Poverty	p. 189
The rural poor	p. 190
Urban poverty	p. 194
The standard of living debate	p. 197
Poverty in the twentieth century	p. 201
Responses to Poverty	p. 206
The old poor law	p. 206
The new poor law	p. 211
Poor relief in Scotland after 1845	p. 213
Private charity	p. 214
Health care	p. 219
Self-help	p. 221
Welfare and the State	p. 225
The growth of the administrative State	p. 225
Factory reform	p. 227
Public health	p. 230
Changing attitudes, 1880-1914	p. 233
The origins of the Welfare State	p. 238
The Welfare State	p. 240
The crisis of the Welfare State	p. 242
Law, Order and Restraint	p. 244
Crime and criminals	p. 244
The police	p. 252
Institutions of restraint	p. 255
Prisons 256 Reform Schools	p. 259
Asylums	p. 261
Life and Leisure	p. 265
Traditional Manners, Customs and Amusements	p. 267
Landed society	p. 267
Provincial life	p. 269
Horse racing	p. 270'Traditio
Artisan life	p. 273
The Attack upon Popular Recreations	p. 275
Enclosure and urban growth	p. 275
Factory discipline	p. 276
Moral reform	p. 277
Social control	p. 282
Reformed Customs and Rational Recreations	p. 284
Reformed customs	p. 284
Rational pleasures	p. 286
Useful knowledge	p. 287
Access to the arts	p. 290
The theatre	p. 291
Music	p. 293
Fresh air and fun	p. 295
A 'bleak age'?	p. 298
Leisure and the Consumer Revolution	p. 299
Holidays	p. 300
Commercialised pleasures	p. 305
Football	p. 306
Betting and gambling	p. 308
Newspapers, magazines and books	p. 310
Music hall, theatre, cinema and radio	p. 315
The consumer society	p. 320
From reality to reality television	p. 323
The e-society	p. 325
The way we lived, then and now	p. 330
Religion	p. 335
Religion in the Age of Reason	p. 337
The crisis of the established churches	p. 337
The weakness of Dissent	p. 340
Popular religion	p. 342
The Evangelical Revival	p. 345
The origins of the revival	p. 345
Methodism	p. 347
The impact of Methodism	p. 349
Evangelicals, politics and reform	p. 351
Church and State	p. 354
Reform of the Church of England	p. 354
The education question in England and Wales	p. 357
The Disruption in the Church of Scotland	p. 359
Dissent	p. 363
Evangelical missions and the rise of denominationalism	p. 363
Protestant Dissent in England and Wales, 1851	p. 364
Nonconformity, the Church of England and the Religious Census of 1851	p. 368
Nonconformity in the later nineteenth century	p. 371
Scottish Dissent	p. 374
Roman Catholicism	p. 376
Church and People	p. 378
The midwife of class	p. 378
The Churches and the working classes	p. 381
Working-class religion	p. 385
Decline and De-Christianisation	p. 388
Institutional patterns in the twentieth century	p. 388
De-Christianisation and secularisation	p. 392
Religion and sex	p. 398
Education	p. 401
Literacy	p. 403
The measurement of literacy	p. 403
Levels of literacy and illiteracy	p. 404
The demand for literacy	p. 407
Elementary Schooling	p. 409
Private and informal schooling	p. 409
The provision of public elementary education before 1870	p. 411
Elementary education under the School Boards	p. 413
Schooling and social class	p. 414
Secondary Schools	p. 416
The eighteenth-century grammar school	p. 416
The public schools	p. 417
Middle-class education	p. 419
Public examinations	p. 421
Schools since 1902	p. 424
From elementary to primary schools	p. 424
Secondary schools and selection	p. 425
Standards and expectations	p. 430
Higher Education	p. 433
The decline and revival of Oxford and Cambridge	p. 433
The Scottish universities in the age of the Enlightenment	p. 436
Alternative institutions	p. 438
Liberal, scientific or useful education?	p. 440
Higher education for women	p. 442
Higher education in the twentieth century	p. 445
Education and Society	p. 450
Popular education and social change, 1750-1870	p. 450
Education and the preservation of the elite	p. 453
Education and the decline of Britain	p. 456
Conclusion	p. 462
Notes	p. 465
Further Reading: A select bibliography	p. 479
Index	p. 523
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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